GILES Scott put his ‘trying start’ to the Olympic Test Event behind him with two solid scores on Wednesday setting him just six points behind the lead.

Wind delays were once again prevalent across the course areas on the fifth day of the Aquece Rio International Regatta, with the outermost courses enjoying the best of the breeze late in the afternoon.

With just three races on the scoresheet instead of the scheduled six by this stage of the competition, the Finn fleet was especially keen to see some action – none more so than World Champion Giles Scott, who’s endured a tough start to their event.

“I’ve had a bit of a trying start to the regatta with a bit of a monumental error on my behalf, thinking I saw a pumping flag when it wasn’t actually flying, which resulted in me being disqualified from a race,” explained Scott, who was crowned champion at this same regatta a year ago.

“Today it was very necessary for me to get out there and put two very good scores on the scoreboard and fortunately I was able to do that,” continued Scott, who posted a race win and a third to elevate him to fourth place overall after five races.

“We’re now halfway through the opening series so there’s still an awful lot more sailing to be done in what look to be some pretty tricky conditions, so it’s still certainly all to play for.”

Olympic silver medallists Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark posted third in their race to see them into second overall, two points from the American leaders, while Luke Patience and Elliot Willis are up to fourth in the men’s double-handed class.

They picked up a seventh in their only race of the day, and are just seven points from the top spot with a potential five more fleet races and a medal race to go.

On the penultimate day of competition for the RS:X men’s and women’s windsurfing fleets, they managed just one of their planned four races apiece in the fickle winds across the Guanabara Bay courses.

Bryony Shaw posted a seventh to book her place in the 10-boat women’s finale on Thursday, but Weymouth’s Nick Dempsey’s 19th wasn’t enough to make the cut into the men’s medal race and he will end the event in 13th place.

“I think this week’s been pretty tough – certainly tougher than I thought it was going to be,” said the disappointed double Olympic medallist.

“Rio’s a pretty difficult place to sail. I’ve been here for a month now and am slowly getting my head around it. I haven’t sailed brilliantly this week, I’ve made mistakes and I’m not on the pace. Dempsey continued: “There’s eleven months to make a few changes, step it up a little bit and I’ll come back in 11 months’ time in the right place.”